Ever After
by Dr. Michaela Quinn
Summary: The Sugarbaker team comes together again after the death of Julia to see what to do with the business. Payne says they can keep the house, but would it be too hard to go on without her?


**A/N: This story takes place during what would have been the 8th season of the show instead of putting it in the time frame where the late, great Dixie Carter died. I ALWAYS wanted Mary Jo and J.D. to get married, so in my story; they did =) (Like so many of my stories already:D)**

It had been six months since Julia died. Nobody from the Sugarbaker design team had been to the house since the funeral. Carlene and Anthony started a law firm together; BJ spent a lot of time traveling around Europe and the United States. Mary Jo married J.D. and moved to Cincinnati. Charlene was still in England with Bill and Olivia; but Perky and Suzanne came home to comfort Payne and to settle Julia's estate.

One day there was a knock on Mary Jo's front door. She opened the door to see Charlene Stillfield standing there. Next to her was her husband Bill and their four year old daughter Olivia. Mary Jo let go of the door and fell right into Charlene almost knocking her over. Bill grabbed Charlene from the back to keep them both from falling. Mary Jo sobbed and cried. Charlene comforted her and ran her hand over Mary Jo's head.

"It's alright Mary Jo." Charlene whispered. Mary Jo looked up at her and could tell through the tears that covered her face that Charlene was also crying.

"Why did it have to be Julia? There wasn't even any warning." Mary Jo stated and leaned up and stood on her own feet again. Charlene shook her head.

"I don't know Mary Jo. Sometimes these things just happen." Charlene replied. Mary Jo looked at her.

"Everybody says that, but I still don't understand. That doesn't make it any easier." Mary Jo exclaimed. Charlene hugged her as they walked over to the couch.

"I know it doesn't. I know." Charlene said. Then Charlene and Mary Jo sat down on the couch.

"Wh-what are you doin' here?" Mary Jo asked her. Charlene let go of her hand. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"I wanted to see you. Bill and I flew in to settle a few business things." Charlene replied. Mary Jo looked at her.

"Business things?" Mary Jo asked and Bill nodded.

"Payne called us last week." Bill responded. Mary Jo nodded.

"Yeah, he called here too. Quint talked to him. I told him to tell Payne that I don't care what he does with Julia's stuff I don't want anything to do with it. I'm too upset to deal with any of that right now."

"I know it's hard Mary Jo, but Payne wanted to know if we still wanted to be Sugarbakers. He said that we could keep the house if we wanted to continue running the business." Charlene stated.

"We?" Mary Jo asked looking at her. Charlene nodded and grabbed a tight hold on her hand.

"We. If you decide to keep running Sugarbakers, Bill and I already decided that we would come home and help you run it." Charlene stated. Mary Jo wiped her eyes.

"I just don't know if I could go to work there every day and not see Julia. There are so many memories there. It was her home! I don't know if I could do it." Mary Jo stated.

"I understand that. That's why all of us are getting together. I called Anthony and Carlene. They got in touch with Allison and BJ and we are all meeting over there in a little while." Charlene replied.

"What? Oh no, I don't think I can go over there." Mary Jo said. J.D. walked down the stairs and over to the couch.

"Charlene! Colonel." J.D. exclaimed. Bill and J.D. shook hands. Charlene stood up and walked over to hug him. She held him tightly and he held closely to her.

"I know it's hard Charlene." J.D. whispered. "I'm glad you're here for Mary Jo."

"I could say the same." Charlene replied. After a minute they let each other go and J.D. sat on the right side of Mary Jo. "We were just talking about how we are all getting together at Julia's house to discuss some things." Charlene said to fill J.D. in. He nodded.

"I think that's a good idea." Mary Jo looked back at J.D.

"No, I'm not going. I don't want to go. It would upset me too badly to go to Julia's house. It's too soon." Mary Jo said.

"I know it won't be easy sweetie, but I think it's the best thing for all of you." J.D. replied rubbing her back. Mary Jo stood up and looked at them.

"You are all expecting me to go and rifle through the belongings of my best friend and see what I want to keep? I can't do that! Those are Julia's things." Charlene sighed.

"No Mary Jo, we just want to see if we want to keep the business running." Charlene replied.

"Fine, if it's so important to you; I'll go." Mary Jo exasperated.

[

"I shouldn't be here. We shouldn't be doing this." Mary Jo said over and over again. Charlene stopped the car in front of Julia's house and sighed.

"Would you quit saying that? You have been saying that since we left Cincinnati." Charlene stated.

"Well, I feel we shouldn't be doing this." Mary Jo replied. Charlene looked at her.

"Mary Jo, Payne is going to be here. So are Perky and Suzanne. Please don't make it worse for them. We lost a good friend; but they lost a sister, a daughter and a mother." Charlene responded. Mary Jo looked down at the ground.

"Alright." They went inside the house to find Suzanne sitting on her usual seat on the couch along with B.J. Carlene was sitting at her desk, Anthony was standing against the counter drinking a cup of coffee, Allison was sitting at Julia's desk, and Perky and Payne were both sitting in the living room chairs. The room was almost completely silent. Carlene looked up and saw Charlene and Mary Jo standing there. She jumped up and hugged them. Mary Jo hugged her closely and cried.

"Oh, we have missed you around here. Anthony and I have stopped by every day and there are tons of phone calls. We can't even call everybody back." Carlene stated. Mary Jo shook her head.

"I'm sorry Carlene. I've had a breakdown since Julia died." Mary Jo said softly.

"Oh?" Carlene said concerned.

"It's alright Carlene. J.D, Claudia and Quint have been very helpful and I'll be alright." Mary Jo said. Just then there is a loud sobbing sound coming from across the room. They all look over and see Allison crying hysterically. They rush over to her.

"Allison? What's the matter?" Carlene asked. Allison looked at her.

"When I came to Sugarbakers I wanted to help it and do what I could to make it work. I know that Julia and I butted heads over a lot of things, but I didn't want to get the business this way. I didn't want it to be this way." Allison sobbed.

"It's alright Allison. It's not your fault that Julia died." Charlene responded. Payne stood up.

"Charlene, Carlene, Mary Jo, Anthony, Aunt Suzanne, Cousin Allison, BJ; you are some of the people Mother loved most in this world. You were her business partners. Her passing has given her share to me and I don't know what to do with it. I give it to you all. Do you want to continue running Sugarbakers?" Payne asked. It was so quiet you could hear a pen drop as Anthony looked at Suzanne, Suzanne looked to BJ, BJ looked to Carlene, Carlene to Charlene, Charlene to Mary Jo and Mary Jo to Allison.

**TO BE CONTINUED. . . **


End file.
